Turkey and the United Nations announced that Russia and Ukraine were set to sign a treaty allowing for the reopening of Ukrainian Black Sea ports for grain exports. The United Nations and Turkey teamed up to allocate calmness between the two countries to ease the growing international food shortages.
It has been two months since the United Nations and Turkey began negotiating what Guterres called a “package” deal to ease Russian grain and fertilizer imports while restoring Ukraine’s Black Sea grain exports. Russia and Ukraine are set to attend the signing ceremony at 1330 GMT (local time) in Istanbul, as the world sits at the edge of its seat for a signature.
The two top exporters of the world are expected to have their infrastructure and defense ministers attend the ceremony and sign the treaty. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan will also attend the ceremony.
The Kremlin confirmed the attendance of Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu soon after Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy said he believed the ports would get unblocked shortly.
The blockages in the Black Sea worsened as Russia’s invasion grew more and more gluttonous. The worsening blockade further disrupted supply chain shipments and contributed to growing inflation rates and the current petrol shortage in Europe. As Ukraine gradually increases its weaponry, it’s becoming more and more of a threat to Russian-occupied areas in Ukraine.
Ukraine’s Zelenskyy confirmed the growing threat in a video speech just yesterday after meeting with senior commanders, “(We) agreed that our forces have the strong potential to advance on the battlefield and inflict significant new losses on the occupiers.” But since Russian forces took control of the final two Ukrainian-held cities in the eastern Luhansk region in late June and early July, there have been no significant victories on the front lines.
Even though the agreement’s complete contents weren’t immediately made public, according to an anonymous source cited by the Russian official news agency TASS, three Ukrainian ports, including the largest export center Odesa, will be reopened.
Russia continues to deny its role played in creating the ongoing global food crisis, blaming Western sanctions for slowing down its own shipments of grain and fertilizer, while it blamed Ukraine for the mining of the paths leading to its Black Sea ports.
Although it seems that there is no end in sight when it comes to the current Russia-Ukraine crisis, this treaty marks a step in the right direction. With countries as significant as the U.S. responding positively and Turkish officials taking to Twitter in excitement, it is evident that this treaty will help the world take a few steps forward in ending the current state of the world.
